Integrating chivalric romance narrative with complicated instances of pre-modern exchange, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight reveals the binding power of pledging one?s trawþe and the transformative power of exchanged objects in a gift economy. By reading the Exchange of Blows and the Exchange of Winnings according to the social demands of a gift economy and of a pledged trawþe, this thesis delineates the nature of Gawain?s failure to keep his word to his host. I offer my analysis of gift theory to suggest how the poem reveals the tensions between chivalric pledges of loyalty and nascent capitalist exchanges. R. A. Shoaf demonstrates the presence in the text of an emerging commercial economy, claiming the poem ?involves the transformation of Gawain?into a consumer and?into a merchant? (3-4). While Gawain behaves as a nascent capitalist, as evident by his passive reception of the exchanged items and his lack of generosity, the other residents of Hautdesert do not. The workings of gift exchange were first postulated by social anthropologists: Marcel Mauss focused on reciprocity, while Branislaw Malinowski, and later, Annette Weiner, argued that gift exchanges operate in a circular system, with repayment not necessarily directed toward the original donor. The exchanges between Bertilak and Gawain show elements of the requisite reciprocity of Mauss? formulation, yet the presence of Morgan le Fey and Lady Bertilak complicates the exchanges and suggests an economy of circularity. While Geraldine Heng and Sheila Fischer have argued that the women of the text exhibit agency?Morgan initiates the Exchange of Blows and Lady Bertilak gives kisses and the girdle?this project argues that it is the performative presence of the trawþe between Gawain and Bertilak that creates a male bond, ultimately denying the women authority. The trawþe circumscribes Morgan?s control and allows for the exchange of Lady Bertilak as an object. Richard Firth Green addresses the late medieval tensions in the semantic definitions of ?truth,? arguing that ?in an oral society the precise words of the oath?bind the speaker and listener by virtue of an inherent performative power? (60). While Gawain functions as a self-interested capitalist, keeping the girdle for its value to save his life, the chivalric trawþe ensures that failure to adhere to the terms of the agreement results not only in contractual liability but knightly disgrace. Gawain?s failure to reciprocate the gift leads to his dishonor, for the medieval gift that is not reciprocated ?would make the recipient dependent on the donor,? endangering ?his honour, freedom and even his life? (Gurevich 180). In medieval gift systems the values of exchanged objects are determined not only by their function within a competitive game about prestige and power, but also by their identification with the donors themselves. Annette Weiner?s articulation of the inalienability of certain objects?the possibility that some objects are ?kept? despite apparent exchange?is useful in explaining the significance of the girdle in Gawain?s failure. Weiner explains that what ?makes a possession inalienable is its exclusive and cumulative identity with a particular series of owners through time? (Weiner 33). The girdle presents just such an inalienable possession; Bertilak ?keeps? the girdle despite Gawain?s physical possession of it. Gawain remains indebted to his adversary, and although he is released from his trawþe, he will continue to wear the girdle as a sign of his failure and the bond with the Green Knight. Ultimately, the court of Camelot assumes the sign of the green girdle, a subtle warning by the Gawain-poet of the inevitable spread of un-trawþe in prioritizing the values of self-interested capitalist exchange.

Background and research orientation, rationale and objectives. Gift giving or reciprocity is widely used in organisations as an attempt to further improve employee performance and productivity, which is ultimately believed to result in higher levels of organisational performance and success. Reciprocity theory, or the gift exchange view, assumes that employees and organisations pursue that which is in their own material self-interest. Reciprocity research is, however, still largely dominated by research focusing on the impact of financial rewards, despite major reward theories, models and approaches that increasingly emphasise the importance of both financial and non-financial rewards in attraction, employee engagement or motivation and retention. The aim of the current research study was to investigate the extent to which employees reciprocate discretionary effort, as indicated by higher levels of productivity, after receiving either a financial or non-financial gift or reward. Moreover, the impact of receiving either a financial or non-financial reward on perceived levels of both employee motivation and job satisfaction was measured, as well as to determine reward preference which was considered more motivating and satisfying. Research approach. The present study made use of an experimental research approach, more so, a controlled field experiment in a naturally occurring work environment. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from employees to measure their perceived levels of motivation and job satisfaction. Productivity data was provided by the organisation employing the employees to determine the impact of the financial or non-financial reward. Composite questionnaires consisting of open-ended questions and Likert-type questions were distributed using a convenience, non-probability sampling approach. All completed questionnaires, along with the provided productivity data, were analysed using descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and content analysis. Main findings. Results of the research study indicated a significant difference in employees perceived level of motivation and job satisfaction after receiving a financial or non-financial gift. Thus, employees experienced greater levels of motivation and job satisfaction after receiving a financial or non-financial gift. Results furthermore showed that employees were more productive after receiving the gift, although the productivity did not shift any different whether they received the financial or non-financial gift. Thus, employee reciprocated discretionary effort after receiving a gift. A statistically significant association was found between the gift employees received and the gift they desired, with the likelihood of receiving a particular gift and desiring that specific gift not being random, but rather due to psychological feelings of appreciation.

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Liberalitas forms one of the central frameworks for defining social bonds within Roman society, and was part of how Roman poets constructed the world. This is most explicitly evident in the poets’ references to “patrons” and benefactors, but it extends much further. The poets worked within a broad framework of social conventions and expectations which must be understood in order to see how their poetry uses and responds to the concepts associated with liberalitas. Cicero’s de officiis and Seneca’s de beneficiis are therefore useful, as they offer idealised, prescriptive views of liberalitas in Roman society. Many scholars have investigated the relationships between poets and their patrons, including Peter White, Barbara Gold, James Zetzel, and Phebe Lowell Bowditch. I argue that any true understanding of the role of liberalitas in Roman poetry must also comprehend its importance in other areas. This dissertation focuses on the poetry of Catullus, Horace, Propertius, Tibullus, and Virgil in the Eclogues. The introduction addresses traditional liberalitas as defined by Cicero and Seneca in their works on benefits and duties. Chapter one illustrates how Catullus, Horace, and Tibullus display ideals similar to those of Cicero and Seneca and use the conventions of liberalitas for praising and blaming members of their social groups. Chapter two addresses the problems of status raised by liberalitas and investigates the strategies used by Catullus, Horace, Propertius, and Tibullus to mitigate these problems and further their social, literary, and aesthetic aims. Chapter three demonstrates how the love poets used and redefined the terminology and ideology of liberalitas to construct an obligation on the part of their beloveds to reciprocate the gifts given by the poets but reject the gifts given by rival lovers. Finally, Chapter four examines the role of liberalitas in formulating and expressing a poetic program in Virgil’s Eclogues, which points to its function in mediating the connection between ‘real-life’ political and social concerns and the literary preoccupations of Roman poets. The various applications of this concept demonstrated in these four chapters present the study of liberalitas as a useful and productive tool in the investigation of the poetry of this period.

Liberalitas forms one of the central frameworks for defining social bonds within Roman society, and was part of how Roman poets constructed the world. This is most explicitly evident in the poets’ references to “patrons” and benefactors, but it extends much further. The poets worked within a broad framework of social conventions and expectations which must be understood in order to see how their poetry uses and responds to the concepts associated with liberalitas. Cicero’s de officiis and Seneca’s de beneficiis are therefore useful, as they offer idealised, prescriptive views of liberalitas in Roman society. Many scholars have investigated the relationships between poets and their patrons, including Peter White, Barbara Gold, James Zetzel, and Phebe Lowell Bowditch. I argue that any true understanding of the role of liberalitas in Roman poetry must also comprehend its importance in other areas. This dissertation focuses on the poetry of Catullus, Horace, Propertius, Tibullus, and Virgil in the Eclogues. The introduction addresses traditional liberalitas as defined by Cicero and Seneca in their works on benefits and duties. Chapter one illustrates how Catullus, Horace, and Tibullus display ideals similar to those of Cicero and Seneca and use the conventions of liberalitas for praising and blaming members of their social groups. Chapter two addresses the problems of status raised by liberalitas and investigates the strategies used by Catullus, Horace, Propertius, and Tibullus to mitigate these problems and further their social, literary, and aesthetic aims. Chapter three demonstrates how the love poets used and redefined the terminology and ideology of liberalitas to construct an obligation on the part of their beloveds to reciprocate the gifts given by the poets but reject the gifts given by rival lovers. Finally, Chapter four examines the role of liberalitas in formulating and expressing a poetic program in Virgil’s Eclogues, which points to its function in mediating the connection between ‘real-life’ political and social concerns and the literary preoccupations of Roman poets. The various applications of this concept demonstrated in these four chapters present the study of liberalitas as a useful and productive tool in the investigation of the poetry of this period.

A common analysis of the Book of Judges argues that the progressive disintegration of moral values in the latter half of the book mirrors the societal breakdown of kinship ties. In the appendices (Judg 17-21) this disintegration of tribal society apparently reaches its apex, thus anticipating the formation of the monarchy in First Samuel. I argue, however, that the traffic of women in Judg 21 mediates the conflict between Benjamin and the rest of the tribes to create a peaceful resolution through the reestablishment of kinship loyalties. Rather than a chaotic ending which illustrates the need for a king, the tribes are reconciled through this exchange of women. In making this argument, I use Marcel Mauss's concept of gift exchange, its development in the anthropological kinship theories of Claude Lévi-Strauss, later critiques of Lévi-Strauss by other anthropologists and feminist scholars, such as Gayle Rubin, as well as anthropological theories concerned with the kidnapping of wives. I apply these theories to the final story of Judges (chs. 19-21), especially to the resolution of that story in ch. 21. I also consider the developmental stages of the appendices to Judges. Specifically, I suggest that the monarchic refrain (Judg 17:6, 18:1, 19:1, and 21:25) was added during the latest stages of development to frame the final two stories and to emphasize the need for a strong central government -- the monarchy. Only with this added refrain does the reconciliation of the warring tribes through the traffic of women appear insufficient. / text

Conditions that underlie contracts and cooperative agreements in business take different forms in different parts of the world. This research investigates the nature, structure and content of those informal relations that lie outside the formal contractual relations in the business community in contemporary China. Specifically, it addresses the role of gift giving in business relations, including the practical and cultural implications. This is a worldwide phenomenon, but my focus is on the relationships known in China as guanxi. Building and managing guanxi includes the exchange of gifts, therefore, discerning whether these exchanges are artefacts of the past or are rational and logical today is crucial. I argue that offering a gift symbolizes the desire to have cooperation within a close trusting relationship. Using an historical anthropological approach I present a systematic examination of pre collected data. The analysis looks for patterns to answer the following questions: What role, if any, does gift exchange play in creating guanxi relationships of trust that include reciprocal obligations? What role does guanxi play in China’s growing economy? I hypothesize that in the context of uncertainty in business it is important to be able to trust the person with whom one has business relationships. The research shows that gift exchanges create an atmosphere of trust that is time-and cost-efficient. Therefore, gift exchange has a rational motivation and facilitates advantageous business transactions within a guanxi relationship. Guanxi management is an important part of business strategy. This research will lead to a deeper understanding of the differences and similarities in contemporary business as it is practiced, both globally and locally, by people with different cultural backgrounds. / Graduate

This thesis consists of three independent essays which contribute to the literatures on organizational and regulatory economics.In the first part of the dissertation, I address questions related to the optimal incentive provision in hierarchies. In particular, I investigate how the choice of the optimal compensation policy of an organization is affected by the workers' psychological preferences for reciprocity. This essay relates to a recent strand of theoretical and empirical research that studies how the presence of reciprocity concerns impacts on the optimal organizational design (See e.g. Dohmen et al. 2009, Englmaier and Leider, 2012, Englmaier et al. 2015).The second part of the dissertation concerns the optimal design and regulation of a hierarchical organization in the presence of capture concerns. In many organizations the task of evaluating an agent's performance is delegated to a third party, a supervisor, who can opportunistically misreport information. The question of how the provision of incentives in hierarchies is affected by the supervisor's opportunism has long been studied in economics. Addressing this research question is of great importance since it can improve our understanding of the internal organization of firms and can have broad applications to regulatory design. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The impact of international aid is debated in the scholarly literature. One of the theoretical frameworks used to study aid is developed in the Gift [1925] by Marcel Mauss. However, overall there is a lack of knowledge concerning the understanding of Mauss, and how it can be connected to the distribution of aid. Thus, this thesis takes its theoretical departure fromMauss’s gift exchange, and the obligation to give, receive and reciprocate to study how articles examine post-tsunami aid through the theory developed in “The Gift” by Mauss. The study is a qualitative reanalysis of three articles, which is structured by a series of analytical questions based on a broader reading of Mauss, previous research and the gift of disaster aid.The qualitative reanalysis finds that Mauss’ obligations to give, receive and reciprocate and the social bonds that these forms were discussed differently, and to a greater or lesser extent. This study brings “The Gift” by Mauss into light to the discussion of disaster aid, and thus highlighting new potential research for future studies.